After Brutal Home Invasion, Some Scars Never Heal

 

James Dittrich and Meredith Duffy were victims of a brutal home invasion last year. Their horrific ordeal and injuries were captures by ABC’s “NYMed.” James saved both of their lives that night by resisting their attackers, and while they paid a high price, they are alive to tell the story. Not surprisingly, their views on guns have changed along with their experience.

By JUJU CHANG and CANDACE SMITH via NIGHTLINE

Target Shooting in America – Huge Economic Impact

Thanks to the National Shooting Sports Foundation for putting together this infographic that details the great impact target shooting has in our country. Millions of shooters and billions of dollars (especially at today’s ammo prices).

One of the interesting stats they list is that 30% are women. While that’s an ok number, we’re seeing closer to a 50/50 split of men and women in our classes (of course in our ladies-only concealed carry classes, the percentage is quite a bit higher)—and that’s great!

Go shooting this weekend—it’s great for your aim, and great for the economy.
Continue reading

Colorado School Shooting

The Colorado student who took a shotgun to school in December 2013 and shot Claire Davis did not have the chance to kill more students as is often seen in recent active-shooter incidents. Why didn’t he shoot and injure and kill more people? Why has the media ignored the reason? Both have the same answer.

Because he was stopped by someone with a gun! What’s that? You didn’t hear that in the news? Imagine that! An armed school resource officer ran to the sounds of gun shots and confronted the shooter. At that point, the 18-year old shot himself. The total event lasted only 80 seconds. The police arrived about 10 minutes later.

That’s why the shooter didn’t kill more people. There was someone with a gun there!

There are two reasons why you didn’t hear these details.
Continue reading

What is firearms training, really?

When we’re at shows or out talking to people about firearms training, we often hear a familiar phrase:

I haven’t had any formal training but I’ve been watching videos on YouTube and going to the range to practice.

Now, before we get into it, don’t misunderstand. We love Hicock45, NutnFancy, and all the rest. In fact, we feel so strongly about GunTalk’s First Person Defender that we’ve posted the series here on our website to make sure our students watch and learn from them.

However, seeing is different than doing. Say you went into a hospital for a risky surgery that your life depended on and you asked your doctor if he’d ever done the procedure before. He responds “Well no, but I’ve watched hours of footage of other doctors doing it.” What would be your response?

You’d probably find another hospital. We would.

So why would you trust something equally as serious—a true life or death situation—to a few hours of “training” on the television or computer?

When you go to the range and try to practice what you saw in a video, you don’t have the advantage of several of professional training’s most important benefits:
Continue reading

Guns have changed, shouldn’t our gun control laws?

By now, many of you have probably seen the video put out by gun control group “States United to Prevent Gun Violence” which portrays a man walking into an office building and taking a shot at employees with a muzzle loader. After his first (missed) shot, he stops to reload while everyone safely exits the building with plenty of time before the man is able to fire another shot.

“Guns have changed…shouldn’t our gun laws?”

It’s a clever advertisement attempting to prove how stupid we who value the right to protect ourselves (from criminals, tyranny, etc.) really are. And it’s likely it will have some effect—I’ve already seen at least three people I respect post it to Facebook—but the effect will be limited to those who are easily swayed by smooth marketing and talking points, or who don’t really understand the issues at hand.

Here’s how you can be smarter than that:
Continue reading

Wait…how does a pistol magazine work?

Diana DeGette, a senator from Colorado and co-sponsor of a magazine restriction bill in the U.S. Senate, shows that you don’t need to know much about a subject to write, sponsor, or vote on a bill. Taking a page out of Joe Biden’s Book of Firearms Ignorance, she doesn’t even know how an ammunition magazine works. Speaking in the Colorado Senate gun control hearings, she demonstrates the ignorance of so many who try to impose their views on others without understanding the issues.

It would be so funny if it weren’t true.

Joe Biden Gives Out More Dangerous Gun Advice

Pretending like he’s an expert on the subject, it didn’t take long for Joe Biden to offer more dangerous gun advice. In the latest development demonstrating VP Joe Biden’s ignorance when it comes to firearms, he made this comment to Field & Stream magazine:

“Well, you know, my shotgun will do better for you than your AR-15, because if you want to keep someone away from your house, just fire the shotgun through the door. Most people can handle a shotgun a hell of a lot better than they can a semiautomatic weapon in terms of both their aim and in terms of their ability to deter people coming. We can argue whether that’s true or not, but it is no argument that, for example, a shotgun could do the same job of protecting you.”
– Emphasis added. | Source

First of all, we debunked his “ease of handling and aiming” claims here.

Secondly, did he learn nothing of the tragic shooting in South Africa involving Olympian David Pistorius? Shoot through the door!?!
Continue reading

Why Joe Biden is Wrong on Guns

Vice President Joe Biden is probably well-meaning, but he often plays the expert on subjects he knows little about.

Last week he said that he advises his wife that if anything should go wrong, she should walk out on the balcony and fire a couple of rounds from a double barreled shotgun. Not only was that dangerous advice to give to millions of Americans, but he showed his true ignorance when it comes to guns by saying, “You don’t need an AR-15. It’s harder to aim; it’s harder to use. Buy a shotgun. Buy a shotgun!”

Fact check:
Continue reading

A Gun Ban That Misfired

Great article today in the Wall Street Journal by Jeffrey Shapiro, a criminal prosecutor for the District of Columbia from 2007-09.

The gun ban had an unintended effect: It emboldened criminals because they knew that law-abiding District residents were unarmed and powerless to defend themselves. Violent crime increased after the law was enacted, with homicides rising to 369 in 1988, from 188 in 1976 when the ban started. By 1993, annual homicides had reached 454.

It’s great to see some of the press seeing the difference between facts and the fear mongering so often perpetuated by proponents of gun control. A Gun Ban That Misfired looks deeper than the headlines often show—and the fairytales and talking point often provided by gun control groups.

Read the full article here: A Gun Ban That Misfired

Teachers and Guns in Schools

classroom
The tragic event in Newtown has revived the debate over Second Amendment rights, firearms in the hands of teachers and administrators, and really, whether anyone other than the police and military should have guns at all.

Many argue that firearms have no place in schools—that our schools should be safe havens for learning. And while we agree that they should be a safe haven, we do not believe that further restrictions on firearms will make our kids—or any of us safer. After all, Sandy Hook was a “gun free zone.”

We quickly wanted to address the question of whether teachers and school administrators should be allowed to carry concealed weapons in schools. We believe the question is easily answered by taking a look at three simple questions.
Continue reading